Foxy New Year, part 1 - Choosing Resolutions that Spark Joy
Foxy New Year, part 1
Welcome to the very first Newsletter (now Blog!) for Foxes!
Here we are in the new year, 2019, beginning new beginnings. Resolving new resolutions. It’s an apt time for me to start this newsletter, and for you to start reading it. Together, we are going to seek the heart of matters, of ourselves, and in so doing we will achieve the most we ever have this year. And we will start now. Together.
In this first newsletter for foxes, I will begin to address the ever-elusive topics of inspiration and motivation in the context of achieving our new year’s resolutions. These topics are elusive because we are constantly changing, and our minds are eager for new and interesting things. We are ravenous for stimulation, and bored of repetition.
The trouble is, progress requires practice. And practice can often call for mundane, repetitive, and even challenging efforts in a stimulation-poor environment. Such as thousands of paces on an indoor treadmill, or snacking on plain baby carrots at work every day for weeks (I acknowledge these may be fun tasks for hamsters or bunnies, but I know you’re foxes!). But it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to struggle in the muck of ill-defined goals and bad gym memberships until we succumb to indulging in bad habits and relinquishing our January self-betterment fever. Instead, we can make progress in an enriching and sustainable manner that leads to a positive cycle of achievement and growth.
To make progress on our goals for this beautiful new year, it is imperative that we are honest with ourselves about our resolutions. The essential question being, would achieving this goal spark joy in my heart?
If you’re having trouble answering with a resounding “Yes!” then you should determine what could make it worth your while, or if you need to focus on other goals. We all know the deep sinking feeling of doom, the twinge of regret, and the teeth-grinding anxiety that can arise from a looming task that’s inconsistent with our core selves. Working on resolutions should never cause any of these reactions, if they are in line with our hearts’ desires, and are approached with intention and inspiration.
I acknowledge that it’s still sometimes difficult to know your heart well enough to make a decision. After all, we constantly filter our decisions through a cacophony of influence from both external and internal sources that are often inconsistent with our true desires. More on that later. If you are still on the fence about whether your resolution sparks joy, rate the feeling you imagine you would experience upon achievement on a scale of 1 to 10, but exclude numbers 7 and 8. Accomplishing your goal should rate a 9 or 10 to be worth your current efforts. Lesser goals should be revised, or reserved for future review.
Together, let’s each of us select 3 goals that spark joy. I would love to hear about your goals via email at nikki.merrifox@gmail.com or messages on Instagram. All types of goals are valid and welcome, from any category. Short and long term goals, relationship, diet, and exercise goals, business goals, skill development goals and personality goals (e.g. confidence, kindness) are all excellent.
In next week’s newsletter, I will workshop at least 3 of the goals that are shared with me (you may remain anonymous, of course!), along with one of mine. Choosing goals that spark joy is just the first step to inspired and motivated achievement. Next, we will rewrite them to be well-defined, attainable, and retain their spark.
I am so excited to hear from you and to continue this series. You are an essential part of one of my goals: to write an engaging, inspiring, motivating, heart-warming, and useful newsletter for all the foxes out there. Just by reading, you are already helping me make progress on my spark of joy. Thank you.
Three cheers and happy new year to my lovely foxes,
PS - I intended to draft a concise, stimulating letter consisting of blurbs about my favorite finds for the week, but this explosion of life coach writing happened instead! Let me know your preferences for content and form and I will take your feedback into consideration! To wrap this up, here’s an inspiring quote and an amazing mountain painting by @conradjongodly. Why a mountain, you ask? If we understand the mountain, we can climb it. Plus, this painting is stunning. 💕
“If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.”
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